Warming up properly matters, so too does activating your glutes beforehand if you want to get more booty from your squats.

'Clam shells', like shown in our video, are one of many activation drills we like to use to warm up before squatting. This exercise will largely target the gluteus medius muscle which sits on the outer part of your pelvis and helps with rotation and flexion of the hip.

Warming up all the muscles of your bum is important and will help you squat more effectively. Females in particular love to target their bums when training and it’s probably one of the most common requests I’ve heard over the years from our female members.

Activating and getting those glute muscles fired up before squatting definitely helps! Here are three tips to help you get more glute action from your squats.

1. Pre activation . . . Clam shells, monster walks or hip bridges are some of our favourites that we like to use, perform these as part of your overall warm up.

2. Warm up sets... Do not just jump straight into your first working set of squats. Perform at least 2-3 warm up sets starting lighter while increasing the load by the time you’ve reached your third warm up set. Keep the reps around 5-6 each set, the aim is to warm up but not pre-fatigue.

3. Go Low . . . In order for you to get better glutes from squatting it’s important that you hit the depth needed to bring them into action, more. Breaking parallel (When your hip crease goes lower than your knee) will help you achieve this. Getting better depth when squatting will help you build a better bum and overall stronger foundation from the feet up.